The Original High [Deluxe Version]

by Adam Lambert

Overview

Adam Lambert shakes off the shackles of the past by returning to his roots on The Original High. No longer with RCA, the label who signed him in the wake of American Idol, Lambert seizes this freedom by reuniting with producers Max Martin and Shellback, the team who gave him his big 2009 hit "Whataya Want from Me," but this is by no means a throwback. Martin and Shellback remain fixtures at the top of the pop charts -- they were instrumental collaborators on Taylor Swift's 1989, the biggest album of 2014 -- and they're a comfortable, stylish fit for the clever Lambert, a singer as comfortable with a glam-disco past as he is an EDM present. The Original High cannily synthesizes these two sides of Lambert, an intersection made explicit on "Lucy," where Adam sings about "diamond dogs" while his Queen bandmate Brian May lays down lead guitar over a crawling electro-beat. Elsewhere, Lambert ratchets up either the rock or the dance, but usually favors the latter, sometimes sliding into full-bore glitter ball territory -- "The Original High," where the beat slowly modulates from disco into EDM and the bonus "These Boys," which shamelessly appropriates the polyester styles of the '70s -- but usually finding an expert balance between pulsating rhythms and gleaming surfaces, not to mention insidiously ingratiating pop hooks. This emphasis on the hook and tune distinguishes The Original High, a record where Martin and Shellback's production, like Adam's soaring vocals, is in service of the song. Although the album can linger on moody noir a little too long -- the lightest material is squired away on the three bonus tracks, each an effervescent delight -- the individual components work on their own merits, whether it's the steely clatter of the Tove Lo duet "Rumours," the elegantly skeletal cinemascapes of "Ghost Town," or the cleanly constructed lines of "Things I Didn't Say." Here, and throughout The Original High, Adam Lambert demonstrates he's in perfect control of his style and sound and knows how to combine both into a sterling modern pop record. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/16/2015
Label:	Warner Bros.
UPC:	0093624927075

Tracks

1. Ghost Town
2. The Original High
3. Another Lonely Night
4. Underground
5. There I Said It
6. Rumors
7. Evil In the Night
8. Lucy
9. Things I Didn't Say
10. The Light
11. Heavy Fire
12. After Hours
13. Shame
14. These Boys

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Adam Lambert   Primary Artist,Vocals
Oscar Holter   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Brian May   Guitar,Featured Artist
ILYA   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Max Martin   Vocals (Background)
Savan Kotecha   Vocals (Background)
Shellback   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Ali Payami   Bass,Drums,Keyboards,Percussion,Various Instruments
Tobias Karlsson   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards
Ozgo   Guitar,Keyboards
Ilya Salmanzadeh   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Sterling Fox   Vocals (Background)
Tove Lo   Vocals,Featured Artist
Axident   Guitar,Percussion
Mattman & Robin   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards,Percussion
Thrice Noble   Guitar,Keyboards

Technical Credits

Alex Tenta   Package Design
Oscar Holter   Composer,Producer,Programming,Vocal Producer
Serban Ghenea   Mixing
Style of Eye   Musician,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
John Hanes   Mixing Engineer
John West   Composer
Michael Ilbert   Mixing,Engineer
Lulou   Producer
ILYA   Composer,Producer,Programming,Vocal Producer
Max Martin   Composer,Producer,Executive Producer
Tim Roberts   Assistant Engineer,Mixing Engineer
Eric Weaver   Engineer
Savan Kotecha   Composer
Shellback   Composer,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation,Executive Producer
Linus Ekloew   Composer
Ali Payami   Composer,Musician,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Tom Coyne   Mastering
James Alan   Composer
Tobias Karlsson   Composer,Engineer,Musician,Producer,Vocal Engineer
Adam Lambert   Composer
Sam Holland   Engineer
Jeri Heiden   Cover Design
Randy Merrill   Assistant
David Roemer   Photography
Patrick Donovan   Coordination
Oscar Goerres   Composer
Ozgo   Composer,Producer,Programming
Mattias Larsson   Composer
Tiffany Amber   Composer
Brandon Lowry   Composer
Allen Wolfe   A&R
Cory Bice   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Norman Wonderly   Creative Director
Ilya Salmanzadeh   Composer,Vocal Producer
Joakim Jarl   Composer
Andreas Schueller   Composer
Elin Blom   Composer
Julia Karlsson   Composer
Robin Fredriksson   Composer
Peter Carlsson   Editing,Engineer,Vocal Editing,Vocal Engineer,Vocal Producer
Freja Blomberg   Composer
Sterling Fox   Composer
Tove Lo   Composer
Fredrik Samsson   Composer,Producer
Axident   Musician,Producer
Svidden   Composer,Musician,Producer
Joe Janiak   Composer
Jon Chen   A&R
Spyke Lee   Assistant Engineer
Julius Petersson   A&R
Mattman & Robin   Composer,Producer
Anton Rundberg   Composer
Lukas Loules   Composer,Musician
Hampus Norlander   Composer
Jeff Fenser   A&R
Nanni Johansson   Assistant Engineer
Jeremy Lertola   Assistant Engineer
Jarly   Editing,Musician,Producer